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Part 3. The Hole in Racial Justice: Alloys of Social Justice

This is Part 3 in a series of articles designed to encourage community dialogue regarding cleaning up our own house with regards to racial/ social justice education so we can be more effective and compassionate, both within justice-based communities and society at large.

Deep Diversity: An Alloy of Social Justice

The organization I co-founded over a decade ago, Anima Leadership, became the workshop in which we experimented with retro-fitting anti-oppression principles with a psychological foundation, integrating research from emotional intelligence, social neuroscience, as well as systems change, conflict transformation, mindfulness practice and, more recently, trauma therapy.

This holistic framework—an example of what could be called a social justice alloy—is outlined in my book, Deep Diversity: Overcoming Us vs. Them (2015). We’ve had great impact with learners through the Deep Diversity methodology both anecdotally and through actual assessments. In spite of being a small organization, we’ve been testing our methodology and have data[1] from work teams—over 150 leaders and 750 staff members—from organizations in both Canada and the US. The very promising results include:

Increased buy-in as well as reduced resistance on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Enhanced ability for people to talk openly about issues related to race, identity, and exclusion.

Improved employee engagement and positivity

Increased willingness of organizational leaders to commit resources and develop programs to support the advancement of historically marginalized groups.

As a side note, this is another area of weakness in social justice education—there is very little rigorously tested educational methods. Although there are many accepted beliefs about what should be taught, there is very little actual data that demonstrates what teaching strategies are effective and in what context, how to reduce resistance, etc.

Furthermore, with Deep Diversity, we are seeing the rise of critical awareness coupled with on-the-ground behavioural change. The following chart outlines some common issues I’ve directly encountered in organizations, with poor interventions that maintain the status quo compared to what has actually happened following Deep Diversity interventions:

Deep Diversity: Critical Success Factors

We’ve identified 8 teaching factors that are critical for success from Deep Diversity:

Build Trust: Trust-building with educator is critical to learning.

Model Vulnerability: The educator models mistake-making and non-judgment when engaging with social justice issues.

Community Container: Relationship-building between participants is crucial to learning about identities, taking risks and being uncomfortable in order to learn as well as navigating boundaries.

Psychological Literacy: Designing learning processes that promote social/ emotional literacy, including the development of self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy and perspective-taking. This includes directly teaching about the brain/mind phenomenon as well as recognizing and managing one’s triggers.

Political Literacy: Designing learning experiences that enhance political literacy through awareness of social identity, power and privilege.

Macro-Micro Zoom: Learning to toggle between the common human experience and the differential impacts of social power on groups. Both educator and learners need to develop the emotional fluidity to shift from individual to systemic levels, and back again.

Scaffolding Learning Strategies: The learning development model has to meet the experience and needs of adult learners, and be customized to their context. The learning should be scaffolded, building on the learners’ lived experience and insights. Teaching methods should be experiential in nature with activities that engage the cognitive (head) and affective (heart).

Conflict Friendly: The educator has to be equipped with conflict transformation skills in order to host brave conversations and maximize learning for all participants. To support the conversations between learners, the educator needs to model how to befriend conflict while being self-reflexive. This can only be done if the educator has done the inner, psychological work that supports healing and wholeness.

In the next post, I’ll go into these factors in greater detail. I’ll describe how integrating psychological literacy into the context not only benefits learners with privilege who may be resistant, but is especially important for learners who come from marginalized backgrounds. Psychological tools are critical in supporting people who most need support in the present moment, as they cannot wait until social change happens in the unspecific future. People need tools today to deal with the experiences of oppressive social systems in the present moment, helping nurture resilience and healing. I’ll also discuss how these same psychological tools can help us help reduce another chronic problem: burn out in our ranks.

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His words are honest and disarming and the book’s framework is both original and needed.

Shakil Choudhury presents a uniquely accessible combination of personal observations and scientific evidence to make a convincing case for Deep Diversity. His words are honest and disarming and the book’s framework is both original and needed. This book will make you think hard and think better about what's good for you, your organization and society at large.

Mahzarin R BanajI, Co-founder of Project Implicit
Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics, Department of Psychology, Harvard University and Co-author of Blindspot: Hidden Biases in Good People (2013)

2015-04-16T14:59:14+00:00

Mahzarin R BanajI, Co-founder of Project Implicit
Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics, Department of Psychology, Harvard University and Co-author of Blindspot: Hidden Biases in Good People (2013)

Shakil Choudhury presents a uniquely accessible combination of personal observations and scientific evidence to make a convincing case for Deep Diversity. His words are honest and disarming and the book’s framework is both original and needed. This book will make you think hard and think better about what's good for you, your organization and society at large.

A breakthrough book about how to achieve the kind of racial equity that goes far beyond traditional notions of “diversity.”

Shakil Choudhury has written a breakthrough book about how to achieve the kind of racial equity that goes far beyond traditional notions of "diversity." In his deep dive, he grapples with the implications of several decades of neuroscience, reflecting on the role of emotion in racial matters, while still grounded in systems, rules, and power. Everyone working on race issues should read this book. Even when you don't agree, you will be provoked to think harder about the enormity of our challenge, and how to generate the emotional, as well as intellectual, fortitude to meet that challenge.

Rinku Sen
Executive Director, Race Forward
Publisher, Colorlines

2015-04-16T15:10:46+00:00

Rinku Sen
Executive Director, Race Forward
Publisher, Colorlines

Shakil Choudhury has written a breakthrough book about how to achieve the kind of racial equity that goes far beyond traditional notions of "diversity." In his deep dive, he grapples with the implications of several decades of neuroscience, reflecting on the role of emotion in racial matters, while still grounded in systems, rules, and power. Everyone working on race issues should read this book. Even when you don't agree, you will be provoked to think harder about the enormity of our challenge, and how to generate the emotional, as well as intellectual, fortitude to meet that challenge.

Choudury’s text offers straightforward tools that can help everyone assess their own innate reactions in any situation

Working in sports, issues of race and cultural biases often come into play when determining how to approach some of the issues that shape the socio-political aspects of the industry. Choudury's text offers straightforward tools that can help everyone assess their own innate reactions in any situation. More than that, it's a great read--the book derives its heart from its author, who writes scientifically but very personally, confronting his own discriminatory reactions as unflinchingly as he asks us to do, and effortlessly straddles the line between insightful analysis and compelling narrative.

Jordan Heath-Rawlings
Deputy Editor, Sportsnet magazine

2015-04-16T15:11:52+00:00

Jordan Heath-Rawlings
Deputy Editor, Sportsnet magazine

Working in sports, issues of race and cultural biases often come into play when determining how to approach some of the issues that shape the socio-political aspects of the industry. Choudury's text offers straightforward tools that can help everyone assess their own innate reactions in any situation. More than that, it's a great read--the book derives its heart from its author, who writes scientifically but very personally, confronting his own discriminatory reactions as unflinchingly as he asks us to do, and effortlessly straddles the line between insightful analysis and compelling narrative.

Deep Diversity emphasizes the importance of relationships and compassion

I sincerely wish this book had been written 10 years ago. I saw myself in many of the experiences and struggles described, as I'm sure many of my equity colleagues will. I was in tears twice reading this - it really got to the core of why this work is so difficult, and why it's so rewarding…Deep Diversity emphasizes the importance of relationships and compassion, principles I have always maintained are keys to equity work…I found this book not only helpful but hopeful. Miigwetch for sharing this.

I sincerely wish this book had been written 10 years ago. I saw myself in many of the experiences and struggles described, as I'm sure many of my equity colleagues will. I was in tears twice reading this - it really got to the core of why this work is so difficult, and why it's so rewarding…Deep Diversity emphasizes the importance of relationships and compassion, principles I have always maintained are keys to equity work…I found this book not only helpful but hopeful. Miigwetch for sharing this.